http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce Mon, 09 Nov 2026 15:04:56 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1826/uncle-santa-bruces-twisted-christmas-roundup http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1826
Gather round chillrens.  Get you a cup of hot chocolate, or some egg nog.  Uncle Santa Bruce has his mug of Jack Daniels Egg Nog, and I'm gonna share some of my favorite Christmas songs with ya.  So take a seat on the floor here.  Except you Sister Mary Agnes.  And you Perrie.  I heard you two girls have been naughty this year.  You two come sit on Uncle Santa Bruce's lap.  I got a special gift for naughty girls like you.

Now, before we begin, I have to say something:
WARNING!  WARNING!  Some of these vids are of a very ADULT nature.  If you are easily offended by sexual humor, scroll on by.  WARNING! WARNING!
Uncle Santa Bruce, being a completely uncouth Submarine Sailor, who's favorite past times are drinking at the titty bar and banging snatch (clean shaven or well trimmed, Uncle Bruce doesn't like to floss while he eats) my sense of humor can be rather dark and dirty.  You may not find things as funny as I do.  And that's fine.  I wont judge you if you don't, and I don't give a shit if you judge me.  So you've been warned.
I'll start out with what I like to refer to as the Uncle Santa Bruce Family Christmas Anthem:

Man, That Kim is HOT!!!

Okay, now a twist on the Rodents of Christmas.


Okay, so if that was just too much for ya, let's deal with these rodents:


Youtube has a lot of vids attributed to the Bob Rivers Radio show.  Many are not his, but this one is.  A word from the Angel on top of the tree.


Okay, enough of the PG-13 stuff.  Let's get on with the R and X rated stuff.  Another Bob River's song.


And now, an adult twist to the Sleigh Ride:


I found a new one I really like.  Since I'm now Santa at my house:


And my favorite.  Santa knows all the naughty girls so...


Okay chillrens, That's some funny shit right there.  I hope you got a good laugh out of them.  Now run along, me and Sister Mary Agnes and Perrie are going to the bedroom so they can tell me how naughty they've been.  Come along Cupcakes!
Go ahead and post your favorite Funny, or Dirty Christmas tunes.
]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2018 21:17:09 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1787/uncle-bruces-weekly-take-on-things-vol-ii http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1787
A little late.  But hey, it's my blog.
I'll start with what I like to call "Well, I thought it was funny!"




So Stormy Daniels got some bad news this week.  One of her lawsuits against President Trump was dismissed.  AND...she has to pay his legal fees.  I bet Cohen wishes he was still Trump's lawyer right now.  Of course, the Meme/Twitter-sphere had a field day with this news.


In other news, Sen Warren released her DNA results.  






Mid terms are right around the corner.  There's talk of a Blue Wave.  There's talk of a Red Wave.  And of course, there's...Memes:


Speaking of Democrats, here's a different take on #metoo:



October 13 was the US Navy Birthday!  243 years of protecting our Nation's shores, by carrying the fight to the seas.


Decided to catch up on the Star Wars movies by downloading a few.

Well, that's enough for this week.  I'll leave you with this parting photo:


]]> Tue, 16 Oct 2018 15:23:48 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1772/uncle-bruces-weekly-take-on-things http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1772
I think I'm gonna try and post a blog entry each week at give my take on things.  I'm doing this for several reasons.  First, as a blog on NT, it's sacred.  Which means I can post what I want, and I can delete comments.  Blogs are sacred.  Moderation is not needed, nor desired.
I will warn you, as a Submarine Sailor, my language is rather salty.  Be warned.
Well, lets start with a few memes that struck my fancy this week.

Yes, the Kavanaugh confirmation made for some very funny memes.  It was evident from the start that the Democrats would attempt to delay his nomination by any means necessary.  Including trotting out unverifiable accusations of sexual misconduct.  For you snowflake women out there who want to jump all over the Ford accusations, save it.  I believe something may have happened to her.  I do not believe it was Brett Kavanaugh.  Frankly, the Dems didn't believe it either.  They knew that there was contradictory testimony that shot her story full of holes.  But they were counting on the #metoo movement to provide a buffer to them so they could demand another FBI investigation.  And their hope was tht it would push the nomination off until after the November elections, so they could possibly gain control of the Senate (a pipe dream now) and block any future Trump nominations to any position.  Didn't work.  And it will bite them in the ass in November.  
But ultimately we gained a new Justice to the Supreme Court.

This picture is not a meme, but it makes me smile every time I see it:

Speaking of the #METOO movement, when I was in Nuclear Power School in the Navy, we were taught that the # sign represented "pound".  As in 150# is 150 pounds of pressure.  So:
Yeah. 
There was something else that happened this week that triggered the snowflake population.  Everyone's cell phone went off with an Emergency Alert test.  Yeah, it's a Homeland Security function, but it has the byline as being from the President.  Man, those silly bitches on the View went into epileptic seizures about it.  Of course, it had it's own share of memes that made me laugh.

I found this meme particularly funny
  Too funny.
Christmas is getting close.  So I decided to download to Christmas cartoons.

Okay, enough with the memes.  I need to get serious for a moment and say goodbye to a dear friend.
We said good bye to another fur baby this week. Our Shih Tzu puppy of 15 years Logan was finally laid to rest. I held him for a while that morning before I took him to the vet for his journey across the Rainbow Bridge. No more pain i kept telling him. And I assured him that I would see him again in Glory.
Will Rogers is often misquoted as saying "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then I don't want to go." What he actual ly said was: “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”


I have always believed that my pets will be waiting for me when I pass. I've read all the theological arguments for and against our furry friends having a place in Heaven. There are scriptures that seem to suggest a Heaven of perfect peace (the wolf and the lamb together, Lions and Ox eating grass, etc.). As well as scripture about all of God's creature.
But the best reason I've ever read about the argument has root in what Will Rogers says. Heaven will be perfect for us. And if being perfect means seeing our loving animals again, they will be there. God is a loving God. Our furry friends were gifts from him here on earth. I find it hard to accept that those gifts wont be waiting for us in Heaven.
So I will see you again Logan. In Glory. Find Belle, and Mandy. And Samantha, Holly, and Smokey. Tell them I love them.
You were a good boy.

Well, that's it.  That's enough for this week.  Maybe I'll do another next weekend.
If you liked the blog, great.  If you didn't, chances are I probably don't give a shit.  Write your own blog.



]]> Sun, 07 Oct 2018 02:57:50 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1767/update-and-new-endeavors http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1767
Nope.  Not dead.  Not yet anyway.
But I will give an update on things here at the Tarleton Dog Run Ranch, home of the Big Cocks.
For those of you following Penny and her fight with Breast Cancer, everything is fine.  She had a complete scan earlier this year, with no indication of new tumors or growth of old.  Her cancer markers are monitored on a monthly basis and have shown no signs of increase.  Her Oncologist is happy with the treatment she has been on, and is also very excited about new drugs that have had several years of testing and history that show real progress.  While she's not ready to shift her treatment plan, she says she has a larger grocery list to choose from than she did 3 years ago.  So we're good with where she is right now.
The chickens and Cocks are doing well.  As are the goats.  And this year we have added a new miniature donkey to the herd.  Charlie was born on Jun 22 of this year.  He's a funny little guy that keeps testing my fence building skills.
      
Sometime after Charlie was born, Penny found a wee little creature who lost it's mommy.  She heard a little squeak one night right outside the front door.  At first she thought it was a baby bird.  But soon discovered it was in fact a baby Opossum.  I was at work, and told her to get rid of it.  But the humanitarian in her decided that every creature deserves a chance.  And so, we are now fostering a baby possum.  In fact, two of them.  And we are in the process of getting licensed by the Missouri Department of Conservation as Opossum Rehabilitaters, Because, apparently there are precious few of them in our area.  Both of these babies have been raised on formula first, then soft baby foods, and have now moved to eating mice I catch from my shed.  Penny doesn't care to watch that, but I find it kinda neat to watch them crush mice skulls with their jaws.
     
So that's the update.  I'll post more later.
MAGA!


]]> Sun, 30 Sep 2018 21:57:48 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1718/rumors-of-my-demise-have-been-greatly-exaggerated http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1718
...to borrow from the group Rise Against.
No, I have not been kicked out of NT.  No, Perrie and I have not had a lover's quarrel.  And no, I have not died.
Frankly, I've been taking a mental health break from NT.  Because...well...this place is chock full of lunatics and Kool-aid drinking liberals.  And sometimes, it gets tiring saying the same thing to the same people and getting the same response.  It reminds me of the definition of stupid.  Yes, I'm stupid for ever thinking I could change any of your minds with facts when you've been consensually brain washed by the America hating media.
As I pointed out in an article a few weeks ago, my last few months have been busy preparing for a Submariner's Shindig at my ranch.  I had about 10 or 12 Submariners, whom I met on Facebook, descend on my spread for a weekend of near epic shenanigans.  This is the second year we have done this, and we are already planning Shindig Threepeat.  
Let me tell you a little about these shindigs.  All of these guys are Brothers of the Phin.  I have never served with any of them on any sub in my career.  I have only met them on Facebook.  And yet, they are my brothers.  I trust them with my life.  I trust them at my home, my ranch, with guns, and ordinance.  Because they are my brothers.
While checking out at Walmart the other day, the young naïve behind the counter, noticing my Submarine Veteran hat, thanked me for my service. He opined that he didn’t think he could be on a Submarine.
I replied “Submarines are not for everyone”. To which the lady behind me said “That’s the best response I’ve ever heard. I guess it takes a special kind to serve on Submarines”.




And I replied, “Y es. It takes a healthy balance of intelligence coupled with insanity. Integrity, with a dose of ‘I don’t give a shit’. “ Then borrowing from Dr. Joyce Brothers I said “It’s not bravery, but an intense insight into our own capabilities, and the knowledge that every man on the boat can and will do his job.”




No, Submarines are not for everyone. And in the old Navy of just 20 or 30 years ago, we made sure that the man standing watch next to us knew his job and did it well. After testing and trying him, forcing feelings like self-pity and sorrow out of him, he was left with confidence and pride. Pride in his job, his boat, his service, his nation. Confidence in his abilities, and the abilities of every crewman who wore the Dolphins. When the hatch shut, and the boat slipped beneath the surface, Death would smile. But the Submariner, full of pride and confidence, would smile back.  


No, young naïve, Submarines are not for everyone. Submariners are not a cut above the rest, they are cut from an entirely different cloth. There are average sailors, but no average Submariners. You are either qualified, or you’re not.



And this is why I invited my brothers to my ranch.  The sea stories flowed.  The jokes, the cuts, the shenanigans, it was all good fun.  A healthy break from here.  Each and every one of them are welcome at my house.  I love every one of them.  There are more than 1000 members here on NT.  I like maybe 6 of you.



I have also been working on my models.  I posted an updated blog here about that, which no one seems to have read.  But that's okay.  I also have a Wordpress blog where I post on my models.  Model building is another way of taking a mental break.  It helps to concentrate on the art.  

To the 6 of you, sorry for any confusion.  


]]> Wed, 18 Jul 2018 21:46:00 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1699/building-the-uss-lapon-the-hull http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1699


It has been a while since I posted about this build.  Frankly, after building the custom fairwater to model the USS Lapon, the rest of the build is rather vanilla.  The only variations are the PE additions.
And that’s what I started with.  I used the Eduard PE set to replace the kit’s bow free flood baffles.




















This assembly is installed within the bow section.  I painted the inside black, as it will not be possible to do so once assembled.


























After this, I got started on the aft section.
One major modification to the fleet boats early in the war was the removal of the propeller guards.  Many modelers believe this was an effort to reduce noise.  But a quick look at the many topside fixtures render this theory moot.  Deck guns, railing, sail equipment all lend to noise and cavitation submerged.  The simple fact is, the speed of a fleet sub submerged wasn’t fast enough to make sound silencing topside a huge issue.
The real reason for the removal was a lesson learned in combat.  In 1942 the USS Thresher was attacked and hooked by the Japanese with a large grappling hook on her prop guards.  With some radical maneuvers, she was able to shake free.  Following this incident, the Navy authorized the removal of the prop guards, and temporary guards were installed as ships were entering port.
All the photographic evidence I have of the Lapon show this modification, so I did the same.  I started by sanding down the mounts on the aft sections.

This was followed by some putty to fill the holes.




















Since the sanding removed some of the hull lines, I simulated them with thin accent tape.  I then primed the pieces before assembly.

After that, the sides were assembled, and the topside deck was glued in place.






















Another PE assembly installed at this point was the bow escape hatch ladder and decking.

With the hull built, the next step will be installing the side plates and topside PE decking.
I’ll save that for the next blog entry.  Stay tuned.










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]]> Fri, 29 Jun 2018 01:25:20 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1689/building-the-uss-lapon-fairwater-details http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1689
I finished my last blog with the Periscope Shears and the lookout platform built.  I’ve been rather busy adding quite a bit of detail to this part of the superstructure.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take a lot of pictures (read none) to show the progress.  But I will show each of the details I’ve added now.  Reference photo is at the bottom.




















I’ll start with the SJ Radar mast.  In the Lapon’s 1944 yard modifications, this mast was moved aft of the Periscopes.  I used the White Ensign (WE) PE set to make up the supports for the mast.  As you can see in the pictures, this required modifying the aft periscope support.  I don’t know if this is technically correct, as I can’t find any pictures with clear views of this angle.  But it had to be done to make the mast fit.

The SJ radar is from the Eduard PE set, and pieces from the model.  Also visible in the above picture is the modified Radio receiving antennae.  Lapon had two mounted between the periscopes, and on mounted fwd on the periscopes.  The fwd antennae was cut off of the kit’s SJ mast, and mounted using a scrap piece of sheeting.  The two on top are also from the kit.  I used the kit’s antennae and broom part (94), cut the broom and middle antennae, and then made a matching type on the other end using a piece of scrap wire.

The loop antennae on Lapon was moved from between the periscopes to the front of the assembly.  I manufactured mounts for it from more scraps.

The Mast Head Light was mounted just below the loop antennae.  The mount was cut from the kit’s SJ mast.  The wire you see is the the power cable to the light, which I will route down when all of this is permanently installed.
Speaking of wire:

I installed a standpipe in the assembly, and routed control wiring for each of the antennae to it.  I’ll dab a bit of glue at the top and paint it black to simulate the water tight seal.

The SD Radar mast is from Nautilus Models.  In the picture I am using for the construction there is another sensor mounted to this mast.  Once I figure out what that sensor was, I’ll decide whether to include it and how.
From this picture, you may notice the yellow cigarette deck.  (Kinda jumps out at you).  The deck included with the NM upgrade was sufficient, but it was pre-drilled for railing in a pattern that I didn’t want to use.  So I made a new deck out of some plastic I had laying around.  It’s been sanded to a not so smooth finish so it will be easier to prime.  Note, the 40MM gun is not installed, just sitting there.

Railing.  I hate railing with a passion.  When I constructed my USS Crockett Gun Boat, at 1/35 scale the railing was much bigger, and easier to work.  I used my resist-tweeze solder lab to solder the brass tubing with no problem.  However, at 1/72, the railing here is much smaller.  I found that the resist-tweeze was heating up the stanchions to the point that the plastic deck was softening.  So I had to resort to CA and JB-Weld.  This was the third attempt at the railing, and I think it finally turned out okay.  Once the JB is cured, I’ll go back and grind the ends to a smoother transition.

The bridge has been installed and will need some putty work.  I’m going to change the TBT binoculars out with a set I’m getting from Shapeway.

The benches are from the Eduard PE set.






















Things left to do, not in order: Install Guns
Install side ladders
Install Fwd Gun deck railing
Install misc features (Running lights, etc.)
Install fwd railing on the covered wagon
Clean up, and prime
Stay tuned!
]]> Mon, 04 Jun 2018 21:00:17 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1668/the-revell-gato-project-fairwater-build http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1668


Okay, I know the Fairwater isn’t the first step in the assembly instructions for the Revell model kit.  But I’m a Submariner.  And we are referred to as Pirates.  So I treat instructions like the Pirate Code:  they’re more like guidelines than actual rules!
At any rate, it’s easier to get the fairwater built first before installing it on the model.  Besides, this is the area that will require more custom building, and I’m excited about the customization I will be doing.
First, I have downloaded and expanded a couple of pictures of the USS Lapon for the configuration I’m modeling.


Several modifications will need to be done to accurately reflect the boat.  One major modification is moving the SJ Radar mast aft of the periscopes.  Now, since the Nautilus Models mod requires the use of the kit periscope parts, I would need to do some cutting on the plastic and glue the mast on to the back.  Not really a hard thing to do, but I felt it would be better to just build the Periscope shear assembly using the White Ensign kit.

The WE PE set includes the I-Beam parts to build the covered wagon, but I’ve chosen to use the resin parts from NM.  After carefully reading the instructions for the PE set, I was pleased to learn that WE included provisions for the exact modification I was looking for.

They have included a rear brace for the aft periscope.  The instructions say to trim the two cross braces to allow for just the two periscopes.

Here, I’ve trimmed the two cross pieces (more trimming will be done as I glue the pieces together).  I glue them up on the middle frame, and set it aside while I trim up the Shear Braces.

Most of the gluing at this point I’m doing with Gator’s Grip.  It allows for re-positioning that CA would set too quickly for.
As I glue the shear braces in, I have temporarily placed the brass tubing of the periscope tubes in place to ensure that everything sets up and aligns correctly.
Once all of the outer frame is glued in, I install the assembly on the fairwater, and glue the frame to the periscope tubes.

Bands are added to the cross braces, the top brace is installed, and per the pictures, I manufacture lookout perches on the aft periscope.




















Okay, the Lapon’s covered wagon appears to be a solid sheet all the way across the top, tapered over the sides.  This has been added to the model, and the next steps will be to add all of the radio mods the ship had at that time.  The next blog entry will cover these modifications.
 










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]]> Wed, 16 May 2018 20:33:17 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1665/revell-gato-build-fairwater-conversions http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1665
As I’ve said before, Revell did a great job of modeling the Gato class from the early years of the war.  But many of the fleet boats went through major changes over the few short years they were in service.  It is not uncommon to see different configurations of the boats in pictures taken no more than 6 months apart.  Much of the conversions were due to technology advances, as well as availability of different armament.
But one of the most visual changes has to do with the fairwater, which contains the conning tower and the bridge.  David L. Johnston wrote a very good guide to the different modifications of the Gato fairwater through out the war. He assigns a classification of Mod 1 through 4, and discusses the differences between “Government Boats” (those built by government run shipyards) and boats built by Portsmouth and Electric Boat.  His guide can be read and   downloaded here.
My conversion for my model falls in the Mod 4 class.  This is commonly referred to as the “Covered Wagon” look.  It required removing much of the side platting of the fairwater above the conning tower, the fairing around the periscopes, and lowering the bridge.  This revealed the I-beam supports for the periscope shears, and gave it the distinctive look.

Now, as I said in my last blog post, I could have done this by cutting the kit and using the White Ensign PE set.  But there were other mods done to the after cigarette deck that I need to account for.
So, I began a search for other aftermarket conversions.  And I found two companies that make modified fairwater conversions for the Revell kit.
One is   Iron Bottom Sound.   I contacted their parent company, East Coast Armory on Facebook, and was assured that Iron Bottom Sound is still in business and capable of providing the products they advertise.
IBS has a lot of conversions from Gato to Balao class, as pictured below:

However, their conversions for Gato class are very few.  They do have a two versions of the Wahoo, one seen here:

None of their other Gato class fairwaters reflect the covered wagon conversion.  IBS does have many other additions and mods for armament and such.  But I didn’t see anything I was particularly drawn to.
The other vendor is Nautilus Models.  I contacted James Corley, the vendor through Facebook and email.  James used to own a hobby shop in the Atlanta area, but has closed it and moved to Florida.  He still manufactures the parts and kits for Nautilus Models, and ships on the weekends.  His customer service is excellent.  He has taken the time to talk with me on the phone about the USS Lapon, the differences between Portsmouth boats and EB boats, and the different configurations of the Gato submarines.  Where many vendors have chosen to tackle the many mods of the U-Boats, James has concentrated on the Gato class submarine.
And right there, on his website I found the modification I was looking for.  His USS SIlversides kit converts the Gato fairwater down to the Mod 4 configuration.

James has several conversions for the Gato class.


As well as many additions, such as early and late war SD Radar masts, 5/25 deck gun, etc.
His website is best accessed   here for US customers , and   here for overseas orders.   A note about the website.  Most all of the blue links work to take you to description pages of the products, but with James’ move to Florida, he hasn’t had a chance to correct some of the links to the pictures of the products.  In some cases, you will only see the thumbnails.
And so I ordered the Silversides conversion from James.  Shipping was fast, and it arrived packed very well.

The kit included a PE set which is also available as a separate item.  A quick inventory revealed that a couple of parts were missing.  But an email to James that night resulted in the parts in the mail within a couple of days.  I’m very pleased with the customer service James provides.  He assures me that any item on his order page is available, except the 1/144 Trumpeter Gato conversions.  He is still working on the GUPPY snorkel conversions.
So now I have my Big Ed set, my White Ensign set, and my Nautilus Models fairwater conversion.  The NM fairwater calls for using the kit periscope shears and assembly.  I’ve chosen to build the periscope shears using the White Ensign PE set, and use it with the Nautilus Models fairwater kit.
I’ve already begun some of the construction, as you can see in the following pictures.

In my next post, I will go over this construction in more detail, and talk about some of the issues I’ve run into working on this part of the project.
Stay tuned!
]]> Mon, 14 May 2018 07:00:45 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1659/revell-gato-build-photo-etched-additions http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1659
As I plan out the build of my Revell Gato Submarine configured as the USS Lapon, I’ve had to research the additions and conversions I’ll need for accuracy.  This has been quite fun, and educational as it has bearing on the boat constructions and modifications over the war years.  So let’s review the available PE sets for this model.
First, of course are the   Eduard   sets.  There are three different offerings, and not every one is needed to complete a superb model.
First, what Eduard calls simply Gato Class Submarine 1/72 (53023).  This part includes all the detailing for hatches, guns, superstructure, decking for the Fairwater, and other small parts.

Next is the Gato Class Floor Plates (53028).  This set replaces the metal deck portion topside.  There are two methods of installation.  They can be installed directly over the plastic deck, or you can cut the deck out and install plastic spacers, then apply the PE sets over these.

Finally, Eduard offers a side decking set called Gato Class Fuselage Hing plates (53029).  Quite simply, these wrap from the edge of the deck down the side of the deck assembly.

White Ensign Models   also offers 3 different PE sets for the Gato model.  Originally doing business in the UK, they are now based out of California, USA, and market PE sets exclusively.
The first set is a Prop Guard set.  And here is another place that detail prevails.  The kit is modeled with permanent Prop guards on the aft end.  In 1942 the USS Thresher was attacked and hooked by the Japanese with a large grappling hook on her prop guards.  With some radical maneuvers, she was able to shake free.  Following this incident, the Navy authorized the removal of the prop guards, and temporary guards were installed as ships were entering port.  This PE set, 7242 makes up this temporary prop guard.

Next is a PE set for Radar and Antennae.  Again, this requires knowing which radars and antennae were present on the specific boat at a specific time.

Finally, White Ensign has a PE set that helps modify the fairwater to the “Covered Bridge” design.  This requires cutting down the kit fairwater and installing the PE framing.  It includes parts to build up the Periscope shears, and requires adding brass piping for the periscopes.  One thing about this set, it allows for modifying the Periscope and Radar mast configuration to the later modifications where the SJ radar was moved to the back of the periscopes.  A very good PE set for this mod.

While Eduard includes PE sets for the metal portion of the deck, there is a company that produces a PE set for the wooden portion.    RCSubs   produces several PE sets, some of which are like the Eduard sets.  But their Wooden deck set includes PE for the Fairwater that allows for the rounded addition to the after cigarette deck.  One thing to keep in mind about this, the set simulates a wooden deck here, and many of the boats had the wooden deck removed and steel decking installed to support the larger 40MM Bofors instead of the 20MM guns.  In the US, this set can be obtained from   Free Time Hobbies .

So for my build, I’ve purchased the Eduard Big Ed set, and the White Ensign Fairwater set.  I don’t know if I will cut the decking for the Eduard PE.  As for the fairwater, I’ve purchased another modification which I will discuss in my next blog post.  The White Ensign set will be used to modify the periscopes and antennae to the 1945 configuration for the Lapon.
In my next post I’ll discuss the Nautilus Models conversions and the Iron Bottom Sound conversions.
Stay tuned.
https://themadmodeler.com/2018/04/10/revell-gato-build-photo-etched-additions/
]]> Tue, 01 May 2018 10:46:03 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1654/the-revell-gato-submarine-project http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1654


What makes a great model stand out from glued together pieces of plastic?  Detail.  But not just detail of the model.  Oh sure, recessed panel lines, a bit of rust and dirt wash, paint that’s neat and clean all add detail to a basic model.  But there’s more a modeler can do to bring life and realism to a model.
When I build, I always build to a theme.  When I built my 1:48 scale F-102 Delta Dagger, I modeled it after the aircraft stationed at the Air Force bases in Alaska where I spent a couple of years as a kid.  My father was stationed with the Nike Missile sites around Fairbanks, protecting these air bases.  I can remember seeing the orange triangles of the vertical stabilizers off in the distance as we drove to the PX on occasion.  So when I built that model, I painted it in the version of those aircraft.  I was lucky enough to find decals for the 317 th   FIS, the unit stationed there at that time.
So for me, detail includes the accuracy of the subject.  The proper paints, decals, and even configuration.  I do as much research as I can to see how this feature of the model is supposed to look, how that part is painted, which gear is actually on the real thing, and what was left off.
I’m not always satisfied with building OTB (Out of The Box).  I’ve taken models that were supposed to be painted in SEA camo, and made them natural metal to reflect a different squadron.
And so it is with the Revell 1:72 Gato Submarine model I am about to build.  The kit contains the markings and configuration of the USS Drum SS-228 and the USS Albacore SS-218 as they appeared in 1943.  Now, I could build one of these two versions with little or no modifications save choosing which decals to apply.  Or I could choose another of the more than 70 Gato submarines of World War II.  Many have very interesting histories.  Quite a few are still on eternal patrol.
But this is where detail comes in.  Because if you pick any boat of that era, chances are there is something different about it than what is offered in the kit.  Even the Drum and the Albacore were modified after 1943 to different configurations.  So the detail is important.  Luckily there are aftermarket additions and conversions available to help the serious modeler configure the Gato model to just about any boat of that time, and even some for post war configurations.
But which boat would I model?  What would my theme be for this huge study of an important and historical subject?

When I was a kid, I read many books about war.  Military service was a tradition of my family, and I had visions of service in just about every branch.  I dreamed of being an Air Force pilot, a Marine Force Recon Sniper, and even an Army Helicopter pilot.  But as for the Navy, nothing appealed to me more than Submarines.  I read every book by Edward L. Beach, and many others about the exploits of the submariners of World War II.  Which is why when I enlisted in the Navy, I volunteered for Submarine Duty.

The first boat I served on was the USS Lapon SSN-661.  This was my “qual” boat.  The boat where I earned my Enlisted Submarine Warfare Insignia, or “Dolphins”.  The Lapon was a nuclear-powered Sturgeon class Fast Attack submarine.  Like most of the Sturgeon class and the classes before her, she was named for a Submarine of the 40’s.  SSN-661 was the second submarine named Lapon.  The first, was the SS-260.  A Gato Class Fleet Submarine built by Electric boat, commissioned on 23 January, 1943.  She entered the Pacific Theater of Operations on 4 May, 1943, and made 8 war patrols before the war ended.  She is credited with sinking 11 Japanese vessels for a total of 53,443 tons.  Not the best record, but a very respectable one.

And so, to honor the namesake of my Qual Boat, I will build my Revell 1:72 Gato model as the USS Lapon SS-260.  But…from what time frame?

This is where the detail comes in.  Like I said before, the boats changed over the course of the war.  Armament was modified, bridge and fairwater cut down and re-organized.  Even the mast and antennae changed from one war patrol to another depending on what new equipment was available, and what the captain wanted to go to sea with.  Lapon was no different.  Commissioned, she looked very much like the configuration of the model.  But at the end of the war, she had two 40MM Bofors forward and aft of the fairwater, a cut down fairwater into a Covered Wagon configuration, modified masts arrangement, and a 5”/25 gun aft of the fairwater.  Luckily, these modifications can be accomplished with aftermarket upgrades.

As I begin the build process on this project, I will make sure that these kit additions are identified, and include links to the resellers and manufacturers.  I hope this will inspire others to build their models as tributes to the warriors of the deep.










PUBLISHED BY

themadmodeler





]]> Tue, 24 Apr 2018 10:23:21 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1436/remembering-her http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1436
Reposting by popular demand.

Remembering Her
 
She was 24 years old when she died. In an age of technological advancements, she was getting old. But don't tell that to her crew. They will tell you she had a punch. She could throw a 14" 1,400 lbs armor piercing shell 34,000 yards at 2,700 feet per second. She was a force to be reckoned with. Apparently, the Japanese felt the same way.

She was commissioned October 17, 1916. The second ship in the Pennsylvania class of Battleships, She was an improvement over her sisters in the Nevada Class. And She was formidable. 4 sets of triple 14 inch 45 caliber guns, 22 5-inch 5 1-caliber guns; four 3-inch 50-caliber guns; and two 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes. Her armor at its maximum thickness was 18 inches. She was built during a time when ocean warfare was the same as it had been for hundreds of years, designed to slug it out on the open sea.
She could not deploy to England during the first world war, as she was an oil burner. A new class of warship. Fuel oil was scarce in England. So She spent the last days of that conflict patrolling the waters off the US east coast. But She was not without her glory. She was the lead escort for the convoy carrying President Woodrow Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference in December of 1918.

She had a rich life. Operating from the East coast, to the Caribbean, to Europe, the Mediterranean, transiting the Canal, and operating up and down both coasts of South America. She hosted President Herbert Hoover for a two week tour of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in 1931. And She was the Flag ship of Admiral Nimitz in 1937.
By that time She was conducting most of her exercises and Fleet problems in the Pacific waters from the West coast to Hawaii, and as far north as Alaska. As tensions between the US and Japan mounted, She joined with many of her sister ships as part of the Pacific Fleet, based from Pearl Harbor.
And this is where She was found that morning, 79 years ago.
Her death was both swift and lingering. Swift in that She sank less than 15 minutes after the first air raid siren sounded on board at 0755. At least 8 bombs landed on her in the opening moments of the attack. The last bomb glanced off the Number 2 Turret, crashed through the deck and exploded in a black powder magazine, which in turn set off adjacent smokeless powder magazines. The explosion was caught on film, and is an icon of that fateful morning. The fires touched off by that explosion burned for two days, a lingering reminder for all to witness.
1,400 men were on board that morning, 1,177 perished. The single greatest loss of life that morning. 37 sets of brothers served on her. 23 of those sets perished together. Only one set of bothers survived. More than 1000 of her crew rest with her on the bottom of the harbor, forever entombed in the great lady.
Some of her sisters fared better that day. The USS Nevada actually got underway. But the ferocity of attacks, as she made her way out of the harbor, forced her captain to beach her, rather than have her sink in the channel, blocking it. The California and West Virginia were sunk. The Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Tennessee received moderate damage. The Oklahoma capsized, but was raised, stripped and sold for scrap.
The others were raised, repaired, and sent to sea. They got their revenge at the Battle of Surigao Strait in October of 1944. They remembered. They remembered what happened to them that morning in 1941. They remembered what happened to their sister. For She was not with them. She was back at Pearl. On the harbor bottom. With her crew.
And each time they returned to port, they could see her. Her mast sticking up. A gun turret still visible. For several years there were barges close by, as equipment was removed, shells unloaded, powder removed, damaged metal cut away. Until only a few bits of the great ship were left to be seen. But they knew She was there. With her crew. And each time they passed her, going to sea or coming home, they rendered Honors. And they still do today.

Because they remember HER.
 
Part 2
She was moored at berth F-7 that morning. The repair ship Vestal was moored alongside. It was just before 8:00 when the first planes began to appear overhead. The Colors detail was waiting, the Officer of the Deck watching his watch, waiting for 0800 when the flag would be raised. In a testament to honor and tradition, the Color detail carried out their duties, and raised the flag on the great lady, even as bombs began dropping all around them. It remained flying until it was removed several hours after the attack.

At 0810, a modified artillery shell weighing 1,760 lbs was dropped on her. It glanced off of the Number 2 turret and penetrated the deck. It came to rest in a black powder magazine.
The explosion was bad, but it was not catastrophic in itself. However, it breached the bulkhead into the forward smokeless powder magazine. And that explosion has been captured on film. Any search for media about the attack on Pearl Harbor will undoubtedly contain the images of that explosion, for it has become the symbol of that day. And well it should, for it spelled the death of her. It completely gutted the forward part of the ship. Turrets 1 and 2, with no support, fell 20 feet into the ship. The foremast and forward superstructure fell into the void. The Bridge, on the forward superstructure, was vaporized. And on the Bridge, directing the crew to their battle stations pressing the defense was Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd and Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh. Their bodies were never recovered.

Fire swept through the hull. Now breached, burning fuel oil mixed with the inrushing water turning the entire hull into a massive oven. Most of the crew was killed by the massive explosion, and the resulting fire. But many were trapped in the aft portion of the ship, drowning as she quickly settled to the bottom.

The fires burned for 2 days. So intense, most of the crewmember’s bodies were cremated where they fell. During salvage operations over the next few years 105 bodies were recovered. Unfortunately they could not be identified. They are buried in the Memorial Cemetery in the Punch Bowl with a simple cross identifying them as “Unknown”.
As the Navy began to recover from the attack, efforts were made to determine if she could be raised. Divers made survey dives over every inch of her. It was learned that the entire forward part of the ship had separated during the explosion, with the outer bulkheads blown almost straight out and up. Raising her was out of the question. And so, the salvage began.

Her Number 3 and Number 4 turrets were removed, and given to the Army as coastal guns to protect the Harbor. The war ended before they became operational. As much of the fuel, shells, and powder as could safely be handled were removed. Exposed superstructures were cut away, and the guns of Turret 2 were removed. Turret 1 still remains.

As more and more of her were cut away, she began to slowly disappear from view. But she still remained. And every ship that passed her, and passes her to this day, still renders honors.
Because they remember HER.
 
 
 
Part 3
 
 
She was the USS ARIZONA (BB-39), and she died Dec. 7th, 1941. Today marks the 76th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and the ARIZONA has become the icon for that Day of Infamy.

Of the 2403 casualties that day, her crew accounts for 1177, the largest single loss of life of the attack. More than 900 of her crew remain within the sunken ship, and as such, she is designated a grave site by the US Navy.
As early as 1942 there were discussions of naming her as a Naval Memorial. The concept is an old one, and can include bounties of war as well as the vessels that fought them. She is the only Naval Memorial that is associated with disaster. She is also designated a National Historic Site, as well as a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
Although stricken from the records (she is no longer a commissioned ship) the US Flag still flies proudly above her. In 1950, Admiral Author Radford, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet ordered a flagpole erected over her. At that time, a small portion of her deck was still above water, and many ceremonies were conducted on this deck. A commemorative plaque was placed at the base of the flagpole, honoring those men still entombed within.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the creation of a Pearl Harbor Memorial. Dedicated in 1962, it includes the Memorial above the Arizona, as well as the Visitors Center, located on 10.5 Acres of Naval Base land on Oahu. (The visitors center was opened in 1980).

The memorial was designed by Architect Alfred Preis. Preis was an Austrian National who was interned during the war. His explanation for the design: "Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory....The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses...his innermost feelings."
The memorial contains 21 windows, to symbolize a 21 gun salute. No part of the memorial touches the ARIZONA. This is because the ARIZONA is a War Grave. Within the memorial, on one wall is a listing of the names of the 1177 men who died on the ARIZONA.

Past crew members of the ARIZONA, upon their death, may have their ashes spread over the ship. Since 1980, December 7th surviving crewmembers may have their ashes entombed within the ship, to rest with their shipmates. To date, 42 internments have reunited surviving crewmembers with their fallen shipmates. 

The most recent sailor to join his shipmates was Retired Master Chief Raymond Haerry, interred April 15th, 2017.  His name will join 41 other shipmates engraved on a special marble slab in the Shrine room. 

The memorial is maintained by the National Park Service, in conjunction with the US Navy. Access to the memorial is by boat only, and only from the visitor center, where tickets are issued. There is a limit of 4800 tickets per day. To date, there have been no days with left over tickets.
The memorial itself is not a National Landmark. It is registered as a National Historic Site (National Register of Historic Places, 1966). It is not a Naval Memorial, but rather a War Memorial.
In 1999, the USS MISSOURI BB-63, another Naval Memorial, was moored behind the ARIZONA. The ship where the Japanese delegation signed the Articles of Surrender, bringing an end to World War II, now sits with her bow facing forward, her guns trained to look over the ARIZONA, silently watching over the remains of those entombed within the sunken symbol of our entranced into that terrible conflict, so that they may rest in peace.

To this day, the ARIZONA still leaks about a quart of oil each day. Slowly bubbling to the surface, observers often remark that it is as if the ship continues to shed black tears, mourning her fallen sailors. Some have speculated that when the last crewmember joins his fallen comrades, the ship will stop weeping. But for now, she still cries.
Because She remembers.

 
]]> Thu, 07 Dec 2017 09:42:05 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1407/sometimes http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1407
Sometimes, it gets to me.  Usually when I’m alone, walking around the pond on the ranch.  I reflect on what I’ve worked hard at building for us.  And I begin to realize that there may not be an us. 
I made sure that she was taken care of if I passed on.  Plenty of insurance to pay off everything 3 times over.  Monthly survivor benefits that would keep her comfortable.
But what happens if I lose her?  Am I building for a future that won’t be here?  I’ve worked hard for us.  But I’m struck with the notion that I may be wasting my time.  And that’s harsh.  Harsh for me to think, or accept.  So I look for answers.
With the internet at your fingertips, anyone can become an expert on any subject.  So it is when you’re faced with a medical issue or disease.  You begin to research everything about it. All the treatments, the drugs, the surgeries.  You pick up a new vocabulary.  Time to Reoccurrence  (TTR).  You read about the trials, the tests, successes.  What you don’t read are the failures.  But they are there.  You begin to see them, written between the lines.  You understand that being cured of cancer is a metric based on how long it takes for it to come back. 
You read forums.  You read about other’s struggle.  You find comfort in seeing that they are being treated with the same procedures and drugs your wife is.  And then you see that they were posting this in 2010, but there are no posts for 2015.  And you wonder why.
You hang on every word the doctors say.  You look for that gleam of hope.  You go home and franticly search the internet for more information about this new drug she’s being switched to.  You start all over with it. Reading the trials.  And understanding exactly what it means when it says TTR is 4 years.  4 years?  Then what?  What do we do in 4 years?
I sit down on the dock and gaze out over the pond.  The bass are feeding on the bugs on the surface.  Striking with a small splash that sends ripples across the smooth surface.  A top-water jitter bug would tear them up right now.  I think back to the spring of this year.  Many times I would come home in the late afternoon to find her out here fishing.  Arguing with the dogs over space on the narrow dock.  She loves to fish.  Just simple fishing, with a bobber and a worm.  No lures, or rubber worms for her.  She’s happy to go after the pan fish.  Or a catfish.  She gets excited when she catches a wayward bass that was hungry enough for a worm.  And she tells me about Brutus, the biggest bass we have in the pond.  He taunts us.  He laughs at us.  She hooked him once.  Got him right up to the dock.  A mouth so big her whole fist could fit inside it.  She said he smiled at her as she reached down for him.  And with a sudden explosive twist and a splash, he was gone.  Maybe next time babe. 
I get up, and wipe the tears from my eyes. 

]]> Sun, 05 Nov 2017 09:37:54 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1391/fighting-breast-cancer-a-husbands-perspective http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/1391
"I have cancer!"
The words jolted me awake.  I tried to focus on my wife, standing over me in our bedroom. My blurry eyes I reminded me that I had taken my contacts out.
I had seen her up and about when I got home from working the night shift.  She reminded me that she had a mammogram scheduled to look at a lump she had found in her left breast.  This was just one of several appointments my wife had been going to in the past couple of weeks.  An infected tooth had prompted several trips to her dentist and her doctor for antibiotics to bring the infection in her jaw under control.  I hadn't been too concerned about the small lump we felt in her breast, attributing it to a side effect of the infection.
But now the hair on the back of my neck was standing up.  I put my glasses on and looked at her.  She was in tears.
"Who said it was cancer?" I asked.
"The doctor doing the mammogram!"
I took her in my arms.  She was scared.  I was scared.  But she needed to be comforted.  She needed reassurance.
"Penny, an x-ray can't say it's cancer.  All it can do is show a tumor.  You have to have a biopsy and have it tested to actually call it cancer."
"Well, he seemed pretty confident when he came out and said 'You have cancer'!  He took me right into the ultrasound room and had them do an ultrasound on it.  He said there were a couple of lymph nodes that were swollen."
"Yeah, and you have an infection on that side of your body in your jaw.  Swollen nodes are not uncommon with an infection" I replied.
"I am NOT going to waste away like my dad and John did" she sobbed.
Her father and her brother John had both passed away within the last 5 years from cancer.  She had traveled home to Georgia to be with both of them.  She had seen the suffering they had gone through.  I could tell that much of her fear came from the visions she had of their last days.
"Look, I'm going to take a shower.  Then we'll call Doctor Cambell's office and see what we need to do next.  I'm pretty sure the next step is to get a biopsy of the tumor so they can tell if it's really cancer."
By the time I had finished showering and dressing, her doctor's office had already received a call from the hospital x-ray department. They put in motion the office visits and procedures over the next couple of weeks that would ultimately culminate in a modified mastectomy of her left breast and a full mastectomy of her right breast.  To say our lives were changed forever would be a gross understatement.
This is our story.
I met my beautiful bride on a blind date my sister set up for me.  I had just completed the nearly yearlong schooling for Nuclear Power in the US Navy, and was home on leave before reporting to my first submarine.  Penny worked at the local theater in our hometown at the concession stand with my sister.  I took her out that first weekend at home.  By the third weekend, I was renting a tux to take her to her senior prom.  And just a few days before my leave ended, I proposed to her.  We were married 4 months later.  Neither her family, nor mine was really sure about our relationship.  But it has lasted through 15 years of naval service, 3 kids, 2 foreclosures, and a bankruptcy.  And now, after 32 years of marriage, I love her more than I ever have.  She is my rock.  Standing beside me through every deployment and rough time, I knew that now was my turn to be her rock.
I reassured her as we were told that the biopsy had come back positive for Invasive ductal carcinoma. We would do everything we needed to make sure she got through this.  When her surgeon gave her the option of lumpectomy or mastectomy, I told her that she didn't need breasts for me to love her.  The fear of re-occurrence of the cancer had her leaning to a full mastectomy, and I let her make the decision.  That decision was difficult for her I suppose.  But what was even more difficult was the decision to remove the other breast.
When we went to see the oncologist for the first time, her nurse had Penny don a hospital gown, opened to the front so the doctor could make her examination.  As we sat in the room waiting on the doctor to come in, Penny started flashing me.  I laughed.  She did this in the surgeon's office a week earlier.  But that was before we knew it was in fact cancer.  I took it as a good sign.  Her spirits were up, despite the uncertainty of what lay ahead.  I joked about taking some pictures for posterity.  She laughed.
During the exam, her oncologist asked her if she did regular breast exams on herself.  Penny said no, and I expected her to follow up with our standard joke about that:  Hubby does those.  There is a ring of truth in that.  Penny was blessed with those assets, and I always showed my affection to her with a squeeze here and there.  But she just smiled at me as the doctor showed her where to look and what to look for. 
Of course, this lead to the other joke she threw at me.
"I blame you for this" she said on the way home.
"Okay, I can't wait to hear this.  How is this my fault" I asked?
"If you had played with my boobs more, you might have found the lump sooner!"
I laughed hard at that one.  If there is anything she cannot accuse me of, it's a desire to play with her boobs.  Let's face it.  Despite the efforts of many women today to remove the sexuality of breasts, there is not a single red-blooded heterosexual male on the planet that does not enjoy the sight of a beautiful breast. 
Which brought me to what I thought would be my biggest problem with dealing with this crisis.  I've never really considered myself a breast man.  But I began to wonder how I would feel with her decision to have her breast removed.  I thought back to what I told her that she didn't need breast for me to love her.  And I reassured myself of that feeling.  How could I possibly not love this woman I had spent more than half my life with because she now had to have her breasts removed?  I put that thought out of my mind.  This was about her, not me.
She brought that back to me the night before her surgery.  She had decided, and the surgeon had agreed that it would be best to have both breast removed entirely.  Part of her reasoning involved any follow up reconstruction.  She felt it would be easier to have both breast reconstructed at the same time.  But the biggest part of that decision was her fear of the cancer coming back in the other breast.  Her surgeon agreed, and so we prepared for a long surgery to remove both breast as well as some lymph nodes in her left underarm.
As I crawled into bed that night, she turned to look at me.  "You're not going to divorce me are you?" 
I was floored.  She had been in bed about an hour or so before me.  I thought she was asleep.  I could only imagine what had been going through her mind at the thought of what was in store for her the next morning.
"How can you ask me that?" I said as I took her in my arms.  "I love you.  You are my wife.  You are my Life.  I will see you through this.  We will do this together."  I held her like that for a long time. 
We went to the hospital the next morning.  The first stop was radiology, where a radioactive tracer was injected to identify the sentinel lymph node for the cancer.  As the technician explained the process to me, I began to ask questions he wasn't expecting.
"What isotope are you injecting?"
"Technetium 99" he replied.
 "What's the half life?"
"Wow, people don't usually ask that.  About 6 hours" he said.
I nodded.  Nuclear Power school paid off. 
Next was pre-op.  She changed into a gown, got into a bed, and had her IV inserted.  After she was settled, I came in to sit with her while she waited to go into the operating room.
My phone kept dinging with text messages.  Her sister and brother were making the trip up from Georgia to be with her.  Her brother was driving, and her sister was flying in with her mother.  She had gotten irritated with me a week before when she learned that I had told her family about the cancer.
"I wish you hadn't called them.  I don't like people knowing my business" she had said.
"They're your family, Penny.  They have to know.  Especially your sisters.  Breast Cancer has some hereditary properties."
"But my family doesn't have a history of breast cancer!"
"Penny, it does now."  That seemed to hit home for her, and I didn't hear any more complaining about informing the family.


They wheeled her into the operating room, and I retired to the waiting room.  I pulled out my tablet, and logged onto Facebook.
I'm in a Submarine group on Facebook that is exclusively for submariners.  No wives, no girlfriends, just former Cold War Warriors of the Deep.  We're an irreverent bunch.  Submarine humor is rather rude, crude, and definitely not politically correct.  There are always jokes about who is having intimate relations with someone's mother, or sister, or dog.  Nothing is sacred.  On submarines, it's a coping mechanism for dealing with the fact that just a few inches of hardened steel separate you from the cold deadly depths of the sea.  And it's also a way to weed out those who can't cope.  If you get bent and spun about a joke about your mother, how will you react when a real emergency threatens you and the lives of 120 other men?  Penny understood this humor.  Fifteen years as a submariner's wife had steeled her for my sometimes crude sense of humor. 
Nothing is sacred, except family.  Especially a family member in distress.  So when I posted in the group that my wife was in surgery, everyone responded with prayers and well wishes.  And of course, being submariners, the well wishes included offers to help choose reconstruction options.  I told them I would convey their offers, and their prayers.
As her family members began trickling in, the hours slowly passed.  Finally, five hours later, her surgeon came out to talk with me.  The surgery went well, which was not very surprising.  How hard can it be to take off two breasts?  She removed a section of lymph nodes under her arm, and would be sending all of the tissue to pathology for analysis.
She spent two nights at the hospital, surrounded by family, and of course me.  I never left her side, making sure she was comfortable and in good spirits.
"The guys in the Sub group have decided to take up a collection to buy you a new set of boobs" I told her the first day.
"Gee thanks" she said with a twinge of sarcasm.
"But there's a problem.  They can't come to an agreement on whether to buy you Beth Chapman boobs or Pamela Anderson boobs."
This resulted in a coughing fit of laughter, and a rather disbelieving look from her nurse.
Another time, she and the nurse joked about the drain bulbs being like two sets of balls she now had to carry around for a short period of time.  I couldn't let this pass.
"So now that you have no boobs, and two sets of balls, do you feel any smarter?"
I truly believe her nurse was about to hit me.
Penny remained in good spirits the whole time she was in the hospital.  But as I drove her home, she began to cry.  I was alarmed at first, and tried to think of something to say to comfort her.  But in the end, I let her cry.  She needed it. 
At home I busied myself with helping her to unwrap and re-wrap her bandage, and drain her bulbs.  We talked about the surgery, and the coming treatments she may require.  I kept track of her pain medications, and how often she needed them.  I wanted her to manage her pain, rather than become dependent on the pills.
One morning I was sitting at the table scrolling through the newest postings to the Submarine Facebook group.  As a picture of a bikini clad woman came up, she glanced at it.
"Looking at porn again?" she asked with a touch of sarcastic wit.
"No" I replied.  "I'm shopping for a new set of boobs for you."
She laughed, and I saw that she enjoyed the joke.  But something happened to me at that moment.  I experienced something I had not anticipated.  While I was relieved that the past few days had proven to me that the surgery and removal of her breast had in no way affected my feelings, I now experienced an emotion I was not prepared for:  Guilt.
I felt guilty when I saw the picture of the bikini model.  I felt guilty when I saw nudity in movies on the premier channels.  I felt guilty when I saw an attractive woman in town.
But it was more than just the guilt of seeing another woman.  I began to feel guilty about my inability to do anything about my wife's cancer.  I was her husband.  I was her provider, her protector.  And yet I could not protect her from this danger. 
I became angry with myself.  Maybe there was some truth to her comment that this was my fault.  Maybe, if I had paid more attention to her, I could have found her cancer sooner.  I found it hard to suppress tears.
And there was another guilt.  It's called survivor's guilt.  I was the one who smoked while in the Navy.  I chewed tobacco.  I drank.  I worked on a submarine in the shipyard with asbestos insulation.  I worked in nuclear power.    I have a family history of cancer, and lost an older brother to it.  If anyone should have gotten cancer, it was me. Yet here I was, clean bill of health following every yearly physical, and she gets cancer.  It was hard to accept.
Stage 3A.  That's what her Oncologist told us when we finally had our post op appointment with her.  She was healing very well, no more pain, drain tubes removed.  We were now ready to face the coming follow on treatment.  Or at least I was.  But then, it's easy for me to say that.  I'm not the one that will have to physically go through it.
Her follow on treatment will include chemotherapy, radiation treatment, and hormone drug treatment.  Three steps.  It will start with some baseline scans, MRI's, bone scans, and blood work.  All tests to make sure she stays in the IIIA category.
There was good news.  The pathology report showed the cancer was hormone responsive.  And a HER2 test was negative.  The oncologist was very pleased with these results.
We asked a lot of questions about the treatment plan.  And the oncologist was very patient with all of our concerns.  I made sure, through questions and answers that Penny was fully aware of what was in store with all of the treatments.  Six months of chemo would more than likely leave her bald, weak, and nauseous at times.  Penny has always been active.  Spending hours outdoors in the blazing heat cutting the grass, working her various gardens, and taking care of the animals on our small ranch.  I wanted her to understand that this treatment would make her feel tired for much of the time.  She needed to know that spending the day inside on the couch resting would be normal for much of the treatment.
As we left the hospital, I could tell she had been listening.  She was quiet.  Thoughtful.
"Are you ready for this" I asked?
"No" she replied.
"Well, you need to be."
"I guess this is what John felt with his cancer" she said.  John, her brother, had died 2 years ago.  He had just finished his fight with leukemia when he was diagnosed with colon cancer.  Apparently, the treatment was more than he was willing to put up with.  "He decided not to do all the radiation and chemo treatment."
"Well, you're going to do the treatment" I replied. 
On the way home we stopped at the store to pick up some groceries.  We ran into a neighbor friend from down the street.  Two years ago he had suffered a severe concussion and brain injury on the job.  As we stopped to talk with him, we could tell he seemed a little agitated.  He began relating his latest battles with Workers Comp over his injuries.  He was very candid with his condition, admitting to depression and anxiety as a result of his injuries.  He made the comment that the one thing that keeps him going, that stops him from doing something to himself was his daughter.  It would be unfair to her if he gave up he said.
Penny glanced at me, and said "Okay, your right.  It would be unfair to you and the kids."
Then she turned to him and said with a smile, "I've recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  And I've thought about giving up too.  I know what you're talking about."
You could have knocked me over with a feather.  Here was my shy, reserved wife, who never discusses "her business" with anyone outside the family confiding in a neighbor that she has cancer.  It was the first time I had heard her admit this.
But it was more than that.  By saying she had considered giving up, she admitted that she was scared.  And admitting told me she was pushing through it. 
And just when we thought we were ready to face this, we were hit with the news I never wanted to hear.  The cancer had spread to her breastbone.  For the first time in this ordeal I was devastated.  No longer stage 3, she is now at stage 4.  And everything I read about breast cancer told me with stage 4 it's not if she will die of breast cancer, but when.  She cried when the oncologist broke the news to us.  And my heart broke.  
Oh, sure, there was encouraging news.  It was a relatively small spot.  It was only one spot.  Her oncologist was pleased with all the choices of treatments that have been made available in the last 5 years or so.  But I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to loose my wife.
Her treatment plan changed.  Radiation treatment to shrink the tumor on her breastbone.  Hormone therapy.  But no chemotherapy.  Yet.  Her oncologist wants to try and starve the cancer. 
And me, I'm becoming more selfish with her.  I try and spend more time with her.  The "I love you"s are more frequent.  The hugs a little tighter and longer.  I don't let her see the fear I feel.  But I don't lie to her.  I make sure she understands what's ahead.  But I also make sure she knows I will be there with her.  I will fight this with her.  No matter how long it takes.  This is not her fight, it's OUR fight.


]]> Mon, 16 Oct 2017 02:24:39 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/881/the-fbi-became-a-political-entity-in-july-not-october http://thenewstalkers.com/uncle-bruce/blog/881
“Americans now look at the FBI and see a political entity, not a nonpartisan entity — and that has huge ramifications for the FBI and for all of us,” said Matt Miller, former chief spokesman for the Justice Department and a Clinton supporter. “It sows disbelief in our system of government and is hugely toxic.”
That's a quote from a Washington Post article about the FBI and a recent release of the investigation into Bill Clinton and the pardon of Marc Rich. Well. Allow me to pontificate.
That statement, uttered in connection with events of the past few days, could easily refer to the announcement of FBI Director Comey that there would not be an indictment of Hillary Clinton following the initial investigation of her email fiasco. The simple fact is, Justice died that day, and the FBI became the laughing stock of the free world. Indeed, the Bill Clinton/Lynch meeting on the tarmac that preceded that announcement did more to solidify in the minds of many Americans that the Justice Department was anything if not biased. THAT has sown disbelief in our system of government, and is hugely toxic.
Several insiders have let it be known that the FBI went into turmoil following that announcement. So much so that Comey was blatantly ignored in the hallways of FBI headquarters. CLEARLY, within the FBI organization, agents and mid level supervisors felt that the actions of Director Comey and AG Lynch smacked too much of political partisanship.
The bottom line is, she broke the law.  She violated security protocols and rules, and Comey let her walk.  THIS is where the FBI, and the Justice Department showed themselves as a political entity.
When an investigation clearly uncovered violations of Federal Law, but no indictment was made, the Left praised the FBI, and Comey for "doing his job". But now that more evidence has been uncovered and the investigation reopened, it's political bias.
Let's hope that the ensuing investigation rights the wrong that clearly tarnished the FBI's reputation. Failure to do so will forever show the FBI and Justice Department as political pawns.
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